Winter Warmers
by hazelle
Summary: Movieverse, one-shot. PeterMJ fluff. Peter recieves an 'unusual' gift for Christmas... Merry Christmas!


**Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you're all ok and got the presents you wanted. Here's my present to you, hope you like it! :D**

**It may seem extremely cliché at the beginning, but please give it a chance 'cause I think it has a fairly surprising ending. At least, _I_ think it's surprising. **

**Winter Warmers**

MJ stuck out her tongue and giggled childishly as an icy snowflake landed on the tip. She shivered involuntary as the crystals melted on her tongue, and quickly told herself to behave. She was with company after all.

"MJ, what _are _you doing?"

Oops, too late, MJ thought. Oh well. "I'm eating snow." She replied truthfully, stating the obvious.

Her friend and fellow cast member Louise rolled her eyes. "Well, _doy_," she said, quoting her favourite TV show and causing MJ to roll her eyes in return when Louise wasn't looking. "We're in public remember." And she nudged her friend in the ribs with an elbow.

"Right. On display. Proper lady-like behaviour. Got it." MJ said and put on a straight face.

Just then, a man with what looked like either a small dead dog or a very fake toupee on his head walked past. MJ and Louise waited politely until he was out of earshot, then promptly burst out laughing. Still chuckling, MJ dragged a reluctant Louise into 'Winter Warmers' which stocked a selection of, unsurprisingly, warm clothes for winter weather.

"_MJ_," Louise whined, "What do you want to go in her for?"

"A present." She replied shortly.

"For who?"

"A friend." MJ said secretively.

"What friend?" Louise persisted.

"A mysterious friend." MJ relented a little.

"Ah. This wouldn't have anything to do with a certain not-so-secret admirer of yours by the name of Peter Parker, would it?" She said slyly.

"Maybe." MJ said and grinned.

They proceeded to spend the next twenty minutes giggling shamelessly over the various colourful and bobbly hats, scarves and gloves the shop stocked, imagining the photographer wearing hideous combinations of them until they were ushered out of the shop for 'disruptive behaviour'.

Louise left soon after, remembering that she needed to visit her parents, and MJ was left to drag her numerous shopping bags home by herself in the snow. As she waved her friend off, she felt her good spirits sink along with her feet into the snow, as the sludge found it's way into her boots, and the harsh wind cut through her coat.

She couldn't afford a taxi, what with all the money she'd spent on presents, and as she trudged home her thoughts inevitably turned to Peter. She was meeting him and Harry later for an early Christmas dinner, since he was going to his Aunt's for Christmas lunch the next day.

She sighed wistfully, becoming so caught up in her daydream that she forgot to pay attention to where she was walking, resulting in many rude comments thrown in her direction as disgruntled passers-by had to go out of their way to dodge her. She thought back, almost a whole year back to her very first kiss. Or rather, the first kiss that could be classed as a proper kiss, she didn't feel the clumsy and overenthusiastic attempts from Flash Thompson and the sweet but dull kisses from Harry Osborn counted, no offence to them, of course. Ok, maybe offence to Flash.

On many occasions when she was feeling low, she'd remember that very first kiss that had set her soul and lips tingling, and suddenly life seemed a lot brighter. Spider-man just seemed to have that effect on her, there'd been a connection… impossibly like the connection between her and Peter.

Then, the only possible noise that could break her out of her trance sounded directly above her, the distinctive '_thwip_' of webbing followed by a joyous whoop. MJ wasn't the only one in the packed street to look up, but she was the only one to sling her bag over her shoulder resolutely and set off running after the illusive noise.

Five solid minutes of running and a broken heel later, she found herself outside a dark, and rather creepy, alleyway. Spider-man had suddenly increased his speed during the last thirty seconds and streaked off, showing his true speed limit. She'd followed him to here, at least she thought she had, it was very difficult to follow a red and blue speck that darted between buildings and faded into the snow as if he was a ghost.

Breathing hard, she waited for her eyes to adjust to the blackness, then stepped cautiously into the mouth of the alley and right into a sludgy puddle. Glancing down with a scowl, she shook the slush from her foot and took another wary step closer. As she rounded the corner of the huge dumpster, a scene moving so fast it hurt it made her dizzy hit her eyes.

The first thing she noticed was the red and blue blur from earlier kicking a gun into the air in a spectacular back-flip, then she saw the man the gun had been removed from, and lastly she saw a woman a few years older than her sprawled on the floor. The woman whimpered pitifully and crawled backwards to the safety of the wall.

"Hey pretty baby, whatcha doin' all the way out 'ere?"

A knife suddenly appeared at her throat, and she gasped as she was dragged further into the alleyway by a hefty arm on her slim one. Tugging on the impossibly large arm that snaked around her middle, she opened her mouth to scream but was quickly reminded of the sharp blade waiting to be plunged into her neck.

In the space of a second, she ducked away from the knife, twisted round and high kicked the weapon out of the man's podgy hand. Before the thug had chance to register what had just happened, she aimed another kick at his face, (making sure to use the leg with the pointed heel still on), but he managed to deflect the blow with his arm and then quickly wrap said arm around her neck, not knowing where the knife had skittered off to.

Spider-man was still busy with the other thug and the woman he had rescued had conveniently disappeared… typical. She would have to get herself out of this mess. Which would be hard without oxygen, she reflected as she felt her head spin from lack of air. She struck behind her blindly with her left leg, but met nothing but air. The man laughed unpleasantly and she smelt rank fish on his breath.

"Looks like I got meself a feisty one 'ere" He growled into her ear, and dragged her deeper into the shadows, away from any chance of the busy superhero from spotting her. That was, as long as she kept quiet. Ok, so she couldn't exactly scream her lungs out in that position, but that didn't mean she couldn't make her captor scream like a girl.

Lunging out wildly again, she could have jumped for joy as she struck gold, or more accurately, groin.

The thug let out a stream of expletives, and although he hopped around a bit and bruised her neck, he didn't let go. MJ didn't stop there. Whilst the man was still cursing and causing a fuss, she stamped on his foot with the sharp heel of her shoe. That was the last straw, and the arm quickly removed itself from her neck.

She stumbled back into the spattered light of the single broken streetlamp, and safety. Spider-man hastily knocked out the guy he was holding before running to her in concern.

"MJ?! What happened?"

Massaging her throat, she just pointed behind her and he got the message. A few second later, two less-than-polite-criminals were dangling from the lone lamppost in grotesque cocoons.

MJ let out a shaky breath she didn't know she'd been holding and leant against the grimy wall for support. "Where'd that other girl go?" She asked.

Spider-man shrugged. "You know the routine, hear girl screaming, dive in and rescue screaming girl, screaming girl doesn't stick around long enough for so much as a thanks, all in a day's work really."

MJ laughed, feeling both relieved and nervous, and pushed off the wall, starting to limp lopsidedly towards the mouth of the alley. She jumped slightly and her heartbeat sped up when a hand touched her arm.

"Hey," Spider-man said and she looked at him. "I can see you're not going to get far on that ankle, so, do you want a lift home?"

He seemed nervous, MJ observed, but not nearly as nervous as she felt. "Um, sure, thanks." She stuttered and he nodded.

Soon they were speeding through the snowy air, snowflakes catching in MJ's hair and the bitter wind freezing their fingers, but somehow, as she plummeted to the street below then soared back up in Spider-man's arms, she felt a lot warmer.

"You OK?" He checked and she nodded happily.

"Mind if we make a quick pit-stop? There' something I want to show you." He ventured gingerly a little while later.

"Sure." She agreed hesitantly and shivered as a snowflake found it's way into her mouth.

"It won't take long." He promised, and swung faster.

They'd been travelling so long in peaceful silence, just enjoying the ride, that it came as a surprise when Spider-man slowed and took a change of direction. MJ had been drifting off in his arms as impossible as that sounded, becoming half-convinced that she would just swing forever in her dreamy state. But no, suddenly the familiar motion stopped and she found herself standing on what looked like the tallest building in all of New York. She glanced down and instantly felt sick with vertigo, but it lessened considerably when a strong arm eased around her waist to stop her from falling.

Glancing back into the red mask, she smiled shakily and he moved with her to lean against the wall, away from the edge.

"Wow." She whispered, the view had certainly woken her up. Pure white snowflakes were drifting down to a beautiful city bathed in soft winter sunlight. Glittering snow was piling on rooftops and obscuring the sights and sounds of people and cars below, so that it seemed to MJ that only herself and Spider-man existed in their own little world.

"It is pretty impressive," he agreed. "Especially at this time of year. Bruce thinks so too."

"'Bruce?'" MJ repeated. "You've taken this 'Bruce' up here too?" She paused and grinned wickedly. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

He gazed at her steadily, and the atmosphere shifted from playful to intense. "Only… only that…"

"Yes?" MJ said, moving closer and looking up into the opaque eyepieces of his mask. He swallowed.

"Only that… Bruce is the, uh, gargoyle over there." He finally said, breaking the moment. MJ nodded and looked away, hiding her sigh of disappointment.

"Right." She said softly. "The gargoyle."

She brushed away some snow and sat down carefully. Spider-man followed suit and they watched the layer of snow that coated just about everything thicken noticeably.

"I… I come up here to think, sometimes, to get away."

"It's beautiful." MJ replied, looking at the narrow ledge they were perched on. "And certainly very secluded. I bet you take all the girls here, don't you?" She added playfully.

He glanced at her and smiled mischievously. "Well- yes, but you're the only one who's ever brought it up, MJ. Only you."

After a few more minutes of admiring the view, MJ was shivering so hard Spider-man immediately took her home, despite her protests of wanting to stay longer, and she quickly made herself a mug of hot chocolate and a hot bath as soon as he'd left, having declined the offer of a warm drink.

She had twenty minutes left to get ready for dinner with Peter and Harry and his new girlfriend at a fancy restaurant down the street. Although she would have loved to have stayed soaking in the warm water until she looked like a prune, she only allowed herself five minutes before getting out and applying clothes and make-up in record time. As she poked herself in the eye with mascara for the third time, her mind wandered to her encounter with the superhero that afternoon. He'd seemed in an

awful hurry once she'd told him the time, perhaps he was going to a dinner as well, she thought and chuckled, causing her hand to move and leave a splodge of black on her cheek. Cursing and dashing for the door, she wiped the mascara off with the back of her hand, rubbing furiously, and trotted down the snowy street.

The restaurant wasn't far, but it was far enough, she reflected, as she turned up panting and red in the face. Checking her watch, she grinned triumphantly as she saw she was only seven minutes late. Knowing Peter, he wouldn't turn up for another fifteen, so she prepared herself for a quarter of an hour of uncomfortable small talk with her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend as her smile faded and a waiter showed her to her table.

To her surprise, Peter was already sitting chatting happily with Harry, and he quickly stood up and pulled out a chair, a smile lighting up his face upon seeing her.

"Hey Peter." She greeted him, sitting gratefully down in the chair and draping her coat over the back of it. "Thanks- I didn't expect to see you here so early." She said, thinking of the last time he'd stood her up, and immediately regretted it. She hadn't meant for it to sound so harsh as Peter's face fell.

"I'm not the one who's late." He pointed out politely.

"Um, this is Liz, MJ, Liz this is MJ." Harry interrupted, and MJ seized on the topic, not wanting to argue.

"Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

The evening passed relatively quickly, in contrast to how long they were waiting for their food to arrive, and as a result, everyone ordered far too many drinks to pass the time. By the time Harry and Liz announced they were leaving, MJ felt positively tipsy.

"I think we'll head off." Harry said, stretching his arms up above his head and bringing one arm around his girlfriend. She smiled and gave him a peck on the lips.

"Ok Harry, see you on Boxing Day?" Peter asked.

Harry nodded and Peter and MJ stood up as well.

"It was nice to meet you both." Liz said politely, and MJ and Peter returned the sentiment. Giggling for no apparent reason, MJ waved them off enthusiastically as they climbed into their taxi. Peter looked at her once they'd gone.

"I think you've had a little too much to drink." He commented. MJ leaned on him and looked up at him with a cheery smile.

"I'm _not_ drunk." She defended herself.

"I didn't say that," Peter retorted. "Come on, let's get you home." he pulled her coat more firmly onto her shoulders and put an arm around her to make sure it didn't slip off again. Giggling vaguely, she willingly walked down the street a little haphazardly.

"Hey, you know what?" She suddenly asked.

"What?" Peter played along.

"I forgot to give Harry his Christmas present today." MJ said then stumbled as she stepped in a puddle.

"Watch out- ah, that's ok, you'll see him in a couple of days." He reassured her at the same time as helping her to walk straight.

"You know what else?" She added a few minutes later.

"What?" Peter said patiently.

"I got your present today. Louise helped me. It's a sc-"

"Don't tell me!" Peter cut her off before she could give anything away. He didn't know about MJ, but he certainly liked surprises on Christmas day.

"No, no, it's ok, because… it's a scarf-gloves-and-hat! She blurted out the last part so quickly he didn't have chance to shut her up.

"MJ! You're not supposed to _tell_ me! He exclaimed in exasperation. She just looked at him and giggled.

The morning after found Peter, or more accurately Spider-man, swinging through the crisp air and trying to ignore the sensation of frostbite tingling in his hands. It had snowed well into the night, leaving a fresh, thick layer of snow on top of the old, but now the air was clear, the winter sun bright. Below, bells were ringing, people were singing and snow fights were breaking out in back gardens everywhere. Even the criminal underworld was giving Spider-man a break, though to do what he couldn't imagine. Building snowmen, perhaps.

At that moment, Peter knew Aunt May was cheerily cooking breakfast, Harry was digging into his pile of presents like a little boy, and MJ was tucked up in bed with a tremendous hangover. He sighed happily. Yes, all was right with the world… except for a patch of crimson, a stain on the otherwise unblemished snow of his favourite thinking spot.

He performed an emergency stop by changing the arc of his swing slightly to land him on a building, then quickly pushed off and doubled back. Only himself and MJ knew of that spot, so why would there be a present, wrapped in bright red paper, and left sitting in the snow on _his_ ledge? For that was certainly what he's thought he'd seen as he flashed past, and yes, there it was, about the size of a shoebox and sticking out like a sore thumb next to the dull grey stonework and plain snow.

Carefully perching next to his pet gargoyle and dislodging a fair amount of snow onto the people below, he tilted his head inquisitively before picking the gift up. It could only be for him, there was no way anybody would go to all that effort just to sit up here. Turning it over in his hands, his suspicions were confirmed when he found no label. Shrugging, he glanced around as if for the owner of the parcel, before hesitantly ripping the paper open at one end. The person who had left the present didn't have the greatest amount of skill at wrapping as the paper peeled away easily. A note slipped out first, and would have fluttered away in the light breeze if he hadn't caught it deftly in one hand. He opened it hastily and read:

_Dear Peter,_

_Merry Christmas, because even superheroes catch cold._

_Love MJ_

Eyes wide and heart thudding in his throat, he again reached with trembling fingers for the parcel. Out fell into his lap a scarf, a hat, and a pair of gloves, strangely with the tips of the fingers chopped off.

**Fin**

**There ya go! Oh yeah, sorry if I got the name of the gargoyle wrong, I couldn't quite remember. Well, I'm off to my dad's house to eat Christmas pud and watch a film!**

**Please review! It's Christmas after all! ;)**


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